About Us

Every ten seconds someone in the UK has a potentially life-threatening asthma attack and three people die every day. Tragically two thirds of these deaths could be prevented, whilst others still suffer with asthma so severe current treatments don’t work.

This has to change. That’s why Asthma UK exists. We work to stop asthma attacks and, ultimately, cure asthma by funding world leading research and scientists, campaigning for change and supporting people with asthma to reduce their risk of a potentially life threatening asthma attack.

Our vision is to stop asthma attacks and cure asthma. We have a proud history of funding research and supporting people with asthma for decades, and an independent review has shown Asthma UK scientists have made breakthroughs in many different areas. Asthma outcomes did improve during the latter part of the last century and so sometimes people mistakenly believe asthma is no longer serious or a drive for improvement not necessary. In fact in recent years the number of people with asthma has risen. 1 in 11 people in the UK has asthma, including 1.1 million children, and their chance of good outcomes have plateaued and on some measures declined. Tragically, still the majority of deaths from asthma are entirely preventable That’s why our focus in our 2014-17 strategy is to reduce the risk of life threatening asthma attacks; key to this will be ending the complacency about asthma.

A number of bodies work together to ensure that we make the best use of the funds we receive and continue to carry out world-class research. We are governed by a Board of Trustees who oversee our Chief Executive andDirectorswho manage the staff across the whole charity. There are a number of expert advisory groups who provide advice and support to the Executive team. This includes our Research Review Panel and Users and Carers Forum. Finally we are very fortunate to have hundreds of people who generously volunteer their time and expertise advising us on our work, helping our research programme and fundraising and raising awareness for us in local communities.

Our Annual Report and Accounts

Our annual report and accounts reviews our performance for the previous year, the progress we’re making against our objectives and our aims for the future. There is also more detailed information on our governance, structure and management, and detailed accounts of our finances.